A freedom of access request to the European border agency Frontex revealed that Europol is investigating multiple unknown NGOs for potential complicity in people smuggling operations, EUobserver documents.
The revelations illuminate the European border agency’s often murky interdepartmental workings and raise the likelihood of future prosecutions of open-border groups.
The word “NGO” appeared over a thousand times in heavily redacted files based on debriefing interviews with illegal migrants conducted by Frontex staff as part of anti-smuggling operations between 2016 and 2022.
Frontex refused to clarify which NGOs are under scrutiny due to the sensitivity of the matter, with a spokesperson for the agency neither confirming nor denying whether information passed onto Europol would be used specifically for criminal prosecutions.
Last year alone, Europol gathered intelligence relating to 290 “organisations” believed to be assisting people smugglers. Eurpol would not provide any additional details.
Criticised both from the Left and the Right for its role in regulating migration, Frontex has been rocked by recent corruption charges brought against its board members, with human rights groups often engaging in lawfare to make the organisation’s daily operations more transparent.
Last month, under political pressure from member states to beef up Europe’s border security, the EU Commission allocated €600 million to Frontex to fortify the Bulgarian border with Turkey. A worsening migration surge has forced a sizable seachange in the EU’s policy rhetoric, as member states lobbied for more resources for Frontex during a February Council summit.
Renewed efforts are underway to strengthen controls in both the Mediterranean and the EU’s frontier with Russia, as Italy and Hungary offer nations a potential roadmap for dealing with the scourge of runaway NGOs.
The revelations illustrate the slow institutional shift building against NGOs as Europe slowly faces up to the existential threat that the issue poses to the bloc’s political and social future.
A long time coming, and hopefully just the start of an inevitable showdown with the open-border lobby, we are witnessing the first tentative steps at fundamental reform of Europe’s lax border outlook on the back of domestic political earthquakes. Expect more sparks to fly.
